Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic material.
Description of Related Art
Ligno-cellulosic plant material, herein also called feedstock or cellulose containing material, is a renewable source of energy in the form of sugars that can be converted into valuable products e.g. bio-fuel, such as bio-ethanol. During this process, (ligno or hemi)-cellulose present in the feedstock, such as wheat straw, corn stover, rice hulls, etc., is converted into reducing sugars by (hemi)-cellulolytic enzymes, which then are converted into valuable products such as ethanol by microorganisms like yeast, bacteria and fungi.
Since the (hemi)-cellulose is crystalline and entrapped in a network of lignin, the conversion into reducing sugars is in general slow and incomplete. Typically, enzymatic hydrolysis of untreated feedstock yields sugars <20% of theoretical quantity. By applying a chemical and thermo-physical pre-treatment, the (hemi)-cellulose is more accessible for the (hemi)-cellulolytic enzymes, and thus conversions go faster and at higher yields.
A typical ethanol yield from glucose, derived from pre-treated corn stover, is 40 gallons of ethanol per 1000 kg of dry corn stover (Badger, P, Ethanol from cellulose: a general review, Trends in new crops and new uses. 2002. J. Janick and A. Whipkey (eds.) ASHS Press, Alexandria, Va.), or 0.3 g ethanol per g feedstock. The maximum yield of ethanol on cellulose base is approximately 90%.
Cellulolytic enzymes—most of them are produced by species like Trichoderma, Humicola and Aspergillus—are commercially used to convert pre-treated feedstock into a mash containing insoluble (hemi)cellulose, reducing sugars made thereof, and lignin. This mash is then used in a fermentation during which the reducing sugars are converted into yeast biomass (cells), carbon dioxide and ethanol. The ethanol produced in this way is called bio-ethanol.
The common production of sugars from pre-treated ligno-celullosic feedstock, the hydrolysis also called liquefaction, pre-saccharification or saccharification, typically takes place during a process lasting 6-168 hours (Kumar, S., Chem. Eng. Technol. 32 (2009) 517-526; Murray, P., et al., Enzyme Microbial Technol 29 (2001) 90-98); under elevated temperatures of 45-50° C. (Kumar, S., Chem. Eng. Technol. 32 (2009) 517-526) and non-sterile conditions. During this hydrolysis, the cellulose present is partly (typically 30-95%, dependable on enzyme activity and hydrolysis conditions) converted into reducing sugars. In case of inhibition of enzymes by compounds present in the pre-treated feedstock and by released sugars; and to minimize thermal inactivation, this period of elevated temperature is minimized as much as possible.
The fermentation following the hydrolysis takes place in a separate anaerobic process step, either in the same or in a different vessel, in which temperature is adjusted to 30-33° C. (mesophilic process) to accommodate growth and ethanol production by microbial biomass, commonly yeasts. During this fermentation process, the remaining (hemi)cellulosic material is converted into reducing sugars by the enzymes already present from the hydrolysis step, while microbial biomass and ethanol are produced. This type of fermentation is therefore often called Simultaneously Saccharification and Fermentation, SSF. The fermentation is finished once (hemi) cellulosic material is converted into fermentable sugars and all fermentable sugars are converted into ethanol, carbon dioxide and microbial cells.
The so obtained fermented mash consists of non-fermentable sugars, non-hydrolysable (hemi) cellulosic material, lignin, microbial cells (most common yeast cells), water, ethanol, dissolved carbon dioxide. During the successive steps, ethanol is distilled from the mash and further purified. The remaining solid suspension is dried and used as, for instance, burning fuel, fertilizer or cattle feed.
With each batch of feedstock, enzymes are added to maximize the yield and rate of fermentable sugars released from the pre-treated ligno-cellulosic feedstock during the given process time. In general, costs for enzymes production, feedstock to ethanol yields and investments are major cost factors in the overall production costs (Kumar, S., Chem. Eng. Technol. 32 (2009) 517-526). Thus far, cost of enzyme usage reduction is achieved by applying enzyme products from a single or from multiple microbial sources (WO2008/008793) with broader and/or higher (specific) hydrolytic activity which use aims at a lower enzyme need, faster conversion rates and/or a higher conversion yields, and thus at overall lower bio-ethanol production costs. This requires large investments in research and development of these enzyme products. In case of an enzyme product composed of enzymes from multiple microbial sources, large capital investments are needed for production of each single enzyme compound.
It is therefore desirable to improve the above process involving hydrolysis and fermentation.
Thermostable cellulolytic enzymes derived from Talaromyces, have been used for degrading ligno-cellulosic feedstock and these enzymes are known for their thermostability in WO2007091231. However, no disclosure is given how to optimize the process of hydrolysis and fermentation.